The Golden Annual For Girls 1938

[dem bones]

The Golden Annual For Girls 1938 (Fleetway, 1937)

Editorial

Iris Holt - it Happened At Midnight
An Intriguing School Mystery Story

Joan Inglesant - The Weird of Wierdslea Grange
A Story of a Strange Mystery

Joan Verity - Teams in Turmoil
A Fine Netball Story

Dorothy Vernon - In the Dark
A Ghost Story

Kathleen Vernon - The Girl Who Wouldn’t Be Friendly

Phyllis Lawford - Strained Relations

Ida Melbourne - The Clue Collectors
An Unusual School Story

Bertha Leonard - A Test for Tessa

Sylvia Marston - The Hidden Princess
A Story of the Romantic East

Shirley Halliday - Miss “Mystery”
A Story of an Exciting Chase

Marjorie Stanton - One Christmas Long Ago

Mary Pennell - By Luck and Pluck
A Fascinating Story in Which a Secret Passage Plays an Important Part

Anne Croft - Witch “Craft”
A Gripping Story of Old England

Joan Ashton - Peach Blossom
A Story of Old Japan

Muriel Holden - Their Holiday “High Spot”

Anon - This Freedom!
A Story of a Parrot

Saved from a drenching at this morning's market. Plenty of [almost certainly 'rationalised'] ghost and mystery stories among the content. Illustrations by "only the best schoolgirl artists" bring much to the party (we'll come to them over next few days).

[dem bones]

Joan Inglesant - The Weird of Wierdslea Grange: Every time the weird is seen
Hot foot disaster comes, I ween

The Morton's have invested their savings in converting the Grange into a hotel, but no sooner have they opened than guests cancel and the servants give notice, frightened off by multiple spectres in the woods. Daughter Audrey, who doesn't believe in ghosts, sets out in a lightening storm to investigate, "more like a Red Indian than a normal schoolgirl." She has not long to wait before a hundred-strong procession of phantoms emerge from the trees to vanish through the hotel wall! To add to the mystery, Audrey catches sight of a lone figure in officer's uniform skulking in the shrubbery, his interest in the goings-on keen as her own. What does it all mean? Can our ghost detective solve the mystery and save the family from ruin?

[Jojo Lapin X]

Oct 30, 2022 18:26:25 GMT dem bones said:

"only the best schoolgirl artists"

Are those artists who are schoolgirls, or artists who specialize in depicting schoolgirls?

[helrunar]

How weird is the weird of weirdslea grange? LOL.

The drawings make it look like an homage to Nancy Drew and the Clue of the Curious Caca... I'll see myself out now.

Great scans!

Hel.

[dem bones]

Dorothy Vernon - In the Dark: A Ghost Story: "My hat! I don't want to be thought a nosey-parker, but I would like to know what it all means!" Fleur Deene, a thoroughly good sort, is spending the weekend at Cranleigh tower as a guest of a classmate, Bell Winter, a girl she doesn't particularly like. Bell's behaviour has grown increasingly erratic since her discovery of a letter hidden in her late Aunt's bureau pertaining to the family ghost story. It’s claimed the phantoms are those of two cavaliers who, toward the end of the seventeenth century, died duelling one another for the favours of the Lady Honaria, whose portrait hangs in the gallery. Unknown to Fleur, Bell's bad egg of a brother is bent on stealing this valuable work, and selling it overseas. The ghostly duellists have other ideas!

[helrunar]

Dem, these are a riot. I look forward to more!

Did people ever actually exclaim "My hat!"? I think I associate it with childhood reading of Hugh Lofting's Dr Dolittle stories.

cheers, Hel.

[dem bones]

Nov 1, 2022 19:27:29 GMT helrunar said:

Did people ever actually exclaim "My hat!"? I think I associate it with childhood reading of Hugh Lofting's Dr Dolittle stories.

"My hat" is possibly unique to Fleur. Her secretive, sometime friend Bell is prone to proclaim "Jer-hos-aphat!" should she find something surprising.

G M Dodsham (?)

Bertha Leonard - A Test for Tessa: The five Wheedon children, encouraged by mother and father to arrange their own summer holiday, answer a newspaper advertisement requesting "curiosity seekers" to investigate a mystery at the Monastery, Clinton-by-Storrbury. The property, reputedly haunted by a phantom monk, was recently purchased by Captain Wynflete, a wheelchair-bound invalid with failing sight. It's said that, during the reign of 'Bloody' Queen Mary, the brothers concealed an item of great value about the premises. Carved on a wall, this cryptic clue to its whereabouts; "By fire and air go find the lair: Nor step nor stair shall take ye there." One night Tessa, fifteen, the "odd" one of the brood but a jolly good sort, disturbs a figure in a luminous cowl prowling the kitchen. The Clinton ghost! Her one hope is to hide up the chimney!

G.M. Dodsham

Anne Croft - Witch "Craft": A Gripping Story of Old England: Daphne, fourteen-year-old daughter of the Earl of Beaumaster, is imprisoned in the tower of her own home, Chilton Grange, by treacherous uncle Sir Peter Chownres, who, sensing King James is facing defeat, has switched allegiance to William of Orange. To make matters worse, Daphne's horrible cousins, Beatrix and Marion, have taken to swanning around in her nicest dresses! Our plucky heroine's plan is to escape into the woods, seek shelter at the cottage of Old Martha the witch while she awaits news of her father. Opportunity arises when the terrible twosome drop by for a goodnight gloat.

[helrunar]

I love your comments on these so much.

And now I'm imagining the unique fun Chrissie might have re-casting some of those drawings. 

With lashings of ginger cream!

H.

[dem bones]

Shirley Halliday - Miss “Mystery”: A Story of an Exciting Chase: Wilhelmina Brown — "Billie" to her chums — calls on best pal, Marjorie Kent, to inform her of the Telldale Telegraph's exciting 'Find Miss Mystery and win £10' competition." Imagine her disappointment when Marjorie cries off ill, though she seems well enough when Billie spots her on the bus ten minutes later! "Billie, old girl, the mystery of Marjorie's queer goings-on get mysteriouser and mysteriouser!," muses our heroine, who, nonetheless, catches up with her friend and pretends not to notice she's jittery as a jumpy cat! The girls seek their prey on the seafront, at the Punch and Judy stall, in the amusement park on the pier, but it's no use. Every young woman in town is a suspect, and some have grown irate at complete strangers confronting them with a tap on the shoulder and hearty "You are Miss Mystery and I claim the Telldale Telegraph's ten pounds prize! Hooray! Hooray! Hoo-Jolly-Ray!" Is Marjorie a rotten egg? Will Billie get her girl? What can it all mean?

[andydecker]

And they all wear sensible shoes. :-)

[dem bones]

Nov 4, 2022 10:29:53 GMT andydecker said:

And they all wear sensible shoes. :-)

They're very sensible girls.

Ben Somers

Iris Holt - It Happened at Midnight: An Intriguing School Mystery Story: Florence 'Flo' Blessington, fifth former and official "Leg-puller Number One!" of St. Dominic's, turns detective to unmask the night prowler made off with little Susan Hall's money-box. Bad enough there's a thief among them, but to steal from the pupil mocked as 'the Pauper' by the "less likeable" girls! If our heroine is to solve the mystery she had best be quick as her horrid enemy, Hester Farmley, is threatening to rat to the head that, on the night of the robbery, Flo went AWOL from the dorm.

"Flo heard the footsteps pause. Then the door opened, and the footsteps crossed the room.
"My hat!" breathed Flo, cold shivers going down her spine."

[helrunar]

The suspense is killing me! Will Flo survive to take the train to investigate those baffling reports of feral Girl Guides rummaging and rampaging through the wilds of St Botolph's? 

Biting nails,

Hel

[andydecker]

Considering that these were published at the time on the other side of the pond there were magazines like Terror Tales or Spicy Whatever Tales sold with their eternal damsels in distress, this is so baffling different. I am not very knowledgeable about the magazine market in the US, but I guess similiar material would be what? Nancy Drew?

[helrunar]

Hi Andreas,

I wouldn't be surprised if this treasure Dem happened upon may be rather a rara avis. I looked up a couple of sources and there were two early mags for girls published in the US: Compact which began in 1932, and Calling all girls which started in 1941. I found this gallery of covers with some contents listings for Calling all girls:

www.mycomicshop.com/search?TID=335481

The fiction Dem describes has precedent in girls' novels such as those by L. T. Meade, whose book A World of Girls was apparently a longrunning best seller (first published back in 1886). Some of Meade's mystery novels would seem to have featured "plucky" girls who went off sleuthing (haven't read any; this is based on describes read online). There were numerous others such as Enid Blyton et al who followed in her footsteps.

Steve

[pulphack]

Ah, I hate to tell you Steve, but these kinds of annuals were very common on the UK, usually either from the Amalgamated stable (owned by Lord Harmsworth, the man who invented the tabloid as we know it, owned the Daily Mail and the Daily Mirror, as was responsoble for Billy Bunter and Sexton Blake, his fortune founded on story papers and office boys pulp), or from publishers who used the same writers and format once a year - Marjorie Stanton, Ida Melbourne and Joan Inglesant (Ida was a bloke who wrote under other womens names for these papers - a lot of the writers were men) were all contributors to Schoolgirls Own, Schoolgirls Own, Schoolgirl, and Girls Crystal. They were the distaff side of the Magnet and Gem - Frank Richards as Hilda Richards created Bessie Bunter, who turned out in the hands of other writers to be far more sympathetic than her brother. I saw a couple of these a few years back in Any Amount, from the collection of Mary Cadogan. Should have bought them. I hadn't seen Mary for a few years and didn't know she had passed away. A popular fiction historian and writer, she was a lovely lady.